Tyan was the initial motherboard manufacturer chosen by AMD to produce Athlon MP motherboards, and the Tiger MPX is the latest incarnation of Tyan's low-end dual-Athlon boards. Step up a bit in price, and you can also get the Thunder K7X, which features on-board video, optional on-board SCSI, dual 3Com NICs, and angled DIMM sockets for compatibility with 1U enclosures. We chose not to include the Thunder K7X in our round-up, because its feature set and price point are both very different from the other boards in this comparo. Still, it's worth noting that Tyan has a number of boards based on the 760MPX chipset and a longer history manufacturing Athlon MP motherboards than the other companies represented here.

From a features standpoint, the Tyan is the "no frills" member of the group. Certainly all the standard bits are here: four DIMM sockets, support for 4GB RAM with registered DDR or 2GB of RAM with unbuffered DDR, two channels of ATA/100, an AGP (not AGP pro) slot, two 64-bit/66MHz PCI slots, and four 32-bit/33MHz PCI slots. These features, however, are common to all the boards in this round-up, and essentially "come with the territory" for the 760MPX chipset. As we'll see, some of the other manufacturers have endeavored to differentiate themselves by adding various additional features to their boards, but the Tyan more or less eschews that route.

The two exceptions to this rule are an on-board 10/100 Ethernet controller courtesy of a 3Com NIC chip, and a unique power connector configuration. While the other boards here require a power supply to have an ATX and 4-pin "P4" connector, the Tyan can make do without the latter, using a more conventional 4-pin Molex connector instead. To avoid confusing the consumer, Tyan's manual explains the power situation clearly: Either the P4 connector or the Molex connector must be used to supply the board with additional power; plugging connectors into both of them isn't necessary, but won't damage the board.

When you open the Tiger MPX's box, you'll find the motherboard itself, a floppy cable, and one ATA-100 IDE cable. Also included is a driver CD, an I/O shield that fits the ports on the motherboard, and the user manual. The manual reflects the Tiger MPX's "no frills" nature; at 35 pages or so, it is the shortest manual of the boards here. Still, the manual covers the things it needs to cover in plenty of detail, even going into extra detail on topics like RAM module types and interface card slot types.

The BIOS for the Tiger MPX seems to emphasize stability over performance. There are BIOS options here, for example, that allow modification of the option ROM, bus mastering, and latency settings for each PCI slot. However, the Tiger MPX is the only board here that doesn't allow for the adjustment of any memory timings at all. Also missing is a BIOS-level CPU shutdown setting which would power the motherboard down in the event a CPU temperature threshold is exceeded. Finally, there are no overclocking options in the Tiger MPX BIOS.

One notable feature present in the BIOS is console redirection, an option which redirects screen output to one of the board's serial ports. This is a valuable option for those looking to work on a machine remotely via a dial-up connection.

The CD included with the Tiger MPX is labeled "Drivers CD," and near as I can tell, that's basically all that's included. The CD contains drivers for a number of Tyan motherboards, so you're required to pick your model number and operating system from a list. Once you have, however, a menu will prompt you with a step-by-step list of drivers that must be installed.

Tyan has hardware monitoring software available for download on their website. The monitoring software is quite comprehensive, allowing for monitoring of:

• Fan speeds of both CPU fans and three chassis fans
• CPU, AGP, DDR, standby and power rail voltages
• CPU, VRM, AGP and DDR temperatures

In addition, you can set thresholds for any of the above items. If a threshold is crossed, you can have the system beep an alarm, send an e-mail, reboot and/or shut the system down. Each item can be configured with a different set of contingencies. The software is very easy to configure; thresholds and contingencies can be set by clicking on relevant sections of a picture of the motherboard. For example, each CPU socket has two clickable areas, one for voltage and one for temperature. The software can also optionally log monitoring information to a file if you like.

Overall, If I had to sum the Tiger MPX up in one word compared to the other boards in this round-up, that word would be "conservative." Depending upon your application, however, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. A sysadmin building a new server wisely translates "additional features" as "additional things that can cause instability and other problems." When you look at the Tiger MPX as an enthusiast, it seems somewhat basic and unexciting compared to the other offerings here. When you look at it as a potential server board, however, the console redirection and extensive software monitoring capabilities make it very compelling.